1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to toy banks; and, more particularly, to a bank adapted to return a predetermined amount of money as interest after coins have been deposited.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For many years there has been a need for impressing upon people the benefits of saving money. Currently, the United States has a savings rate lower than that of other industrialized countries. A toy bank that encourages children to save money while simultaneously teaching concepts of interest would help solve a problem of national importance.
Banks for saving coins are well known and have been around for many years. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,858,701, issued Jan. 7, 1975, to Bauer, et al., the patentees recognized the desirability of teaching children who use such tanks how to save money while realizing the possibility of receiving interest on the money deposited into the bank. Bauer, et al.'s bank releases a coin in response to each coin being deposited, but does not deliver the released coin to the child. Thus, Bauer, et al. do not teach one of the most important aspects of saving, i.e., the reward of actually receiving interest payments. Moreover, in the more advanced embodiments of the subject invention, an accumulation of coins adding up to a predetermined amount can result in interest being paid to the saver.
Thus, there is a need for a bank which accumulates the coins being deposited and returns to the saver a predetermined amount of interest based on the value of the deposited coins.